Perfect *UNDER CONSTRUCTION*

Chapter Five: Secrets Happen

"Hello, Alex. Nice to see that Brianna's finally made a friend. It's been a couple years. Come inside." He smiled and Brianna waved me in after she had already stepped in. I walked in behind her to see Jake sitting on the couch. He had a bag of plain potato chips in one hand, and a mouth full of them. He stopped chewing to glare at me. I have to admit, it was pretty scary.

"So," Her dad said, closing the front door. "You want to stay for dinner, Alex?"

"Uhm, sure," I said, looking at Brianna. She smiled again.

"I'll make something good, then." He said. He turned to Brianna. "Show your friend the house."

Brianna nodded and grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of the living room. We walked into a small kitchen and she opened the fridge, pulling out a carton of milk. "Want some?" She asked, holding it up. I shook my head and she shrugged, took a drink fron the carton, then put it back in the fridge.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She shook her head, pulled up the bottom of her shirt to wipe her mouth. I noticed a scratch on her stomach, too. She dropped her shirt and shook her head again. "I'm fine."

"What were you going to tell me back at my house?"

"I can't tell you down here." She said, walking to the doorway and looking back into the living room. "They might hear me. And I'm not supposed to tell anybody."

"Oh," I leaned against the island, shaking my head.

"Yeah," She said. "I'm going to ask about that party now, before I forget." She turned to look at me. "Is it actually at your house, or somewhere else?"

"My mom is taking all of us there. We're meeting Austin and Ariel and Cameron there."

"Okay," She walked out of the kitchen, then walked back in. "Well, come on."

I stood up and followed her back into the living room. There was a set of stairs off to the right, a white couch in the middle of the room facing a small television and a recliner in the corner. It was a large room, considering all they had to put in there.

"Hey, dad," Brianna walked up to the couch, where her dad sat. "Can I go to a party at Alex's house on Saturday."

"Do you need a ride?" He looked back at her, confused.

"No," She said. "He lives just down the street." She glanced from her dad to her brother, then back to her dad.

He smiled. "Okay, then. But today is Friday."

"Alright, dad. Thanks." She turned to me and waved me over. "We're going upstairs."

"Don't do nothing stupid." Her dad called.

The stairs were narrow, so I had to walk behind her. I tried to keep my eyes on the stairs below me or the plain white walls, not her butt. The stairs just continued into a narrow hallway with doors to the left and right. she walked up to the second door on the left, a white door with papers covering it. "This is my room," She walked in. I followed, closing the door.

The room was only a little smaller than the living room. It had dark walls and a bed and bookshelf. The bookshelf was short with candles covering it. Her closet door stood open, but it didn't look like there was anything in it. Boxes were stacked floor to ceiling in a corner by the window.

"So this is where you sleep," I said.

She sat on the bed. It was a white twin, with black bedding. I walked over to the window and looked out, seeing the tree.

"Yeah," She sighed and looked around. "I've still got forever to go, though."

I noticed there was no screen on the window. "Why isn't there a screen?"

"Just in case," She said. "My dad had me take it off. But he also told me to make my room a place I looked safe." She shrugged.

"Do you? Feel safe, I mean."

She bit her lip and rolled over to lay on her stomach facing me. "I guess I do. But...."

"But what?" I hated when people trailed off in the middle of sentences, and she seemed impossibly capable of doing that all the time.

"Alex, I never finished what I was going to tell you at your house, did I?"

"No," I walked over and knelt by the bed so that we were face to face, inches apart, close enough to kiss her chapped lips.

"Do you want to know?"

"Do you want to tell?"

"I think it's best that you know so that you know what he's capable of." She seemed to act nonchalant, but I knew she wanted to get it out. At the same time, I didn't want to know at that point. It was obviously something big.

"Well, if you want to tell me, you can. But you don't have to."

She looked straight at me, her brown eyes were full of hate, which I had never seen from her before in the two days that I had known her. "Alex," She didn't look away, but she hesitated. "Alex, my brother is the one that killed my mom."